What voice do members and followers have in their political parties?  Do they have sufficient influence to really raise queries about  the policies being run by their party and if necessary, to change them? If so, how do they do it?

The question arises because in a number of European countries, the meetings and  controversies over the choices that a party must decide about seem to happen via social media. It becomes difficult to recognize whether what is being said is truly genuine and not a manipulation. Meanwhile, many of the internal party meetings, whether held in public or otherwise, end up as shows.... even more so when the media is let in...  In them, the members present get corralled as spectators in a stream of liturgical applause for the leadership. Indeed, the best example of this comes from the Republican Party in the US, since Donald Trump took it over.  But the Republicans are far from being the only party in this situation. That would have been nice!

Internal party debates that in the past used to lead to a political synthesis by which members felt they were being listened to and given recognition have become rare. Instead debates between party members have become a rather weak show, with TV viewers as main target audience.

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DEATH SENTENCE

The story of Christa Pike is disgusting from beginning to end and from all perspectives. She was due for execution in the US state of Tennessee. There could be no doubt that  the murder she surely committed was a horrible one. She was eighteen at the time, and with a history of having been grossly abused as a child. Pike then spent more than thirty years in total isolation for long stretches, awaiting her execution on dates that were always being postponed. Her lawyers made a request that was turned down, for her execution to be carried out with the use of a method that would be swift and effective. The state protocol was followed by which she was given a lethal injection intended to block out her respiratory system.

She was injected once, twice, but the administered chemicals failed to do the job (and this was not the first time that the procedure failed in Tennessee...) So they took Pike to hospital ...

There has rarely been a story as horrifying as this to illustrate the full meaning and consequences of a decision taken by a democratic state to cut short the life of one of its citizens.

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SUBSIDIES

Assuming he has been correctly reported, the account given by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana last week about the state of the Maltese economy is disquieting. If I understood well, the subsidies on fuel and other energy products have become so important to the Maltese economy that there would be a disaster if they were removed. This is true even though in the international situation that has emerged, they have become such a drag on the island's public finances, that to keep them going other commitements will need to be slashed. Without the subsidies, the whole economy would nosedive.

One recalls the Greek myth of Icarus who built for himself special wings of feathers held together with wax. He was warned not to fly too high with them, but that's what he did. The sun's rays melted the wax. Icarus plummeted to earth.